I am not, I confess, a religious person. Spiritual, yes, but not religious as in partaking in organized religion, but the wit of the above sign that I saw outside a church selling flowers for a fundraiser made me laugh and willingly donate to their cause.
"The earth laughs in flowers" (a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson) and I love them all. Their colours, their shapes, their scents, the sheer vitality of their mad growth from spring to summer to fall and then, if we're lucky, their return the next spring, full of hope and determination. The cemetery was abloom with flowers as we walked on Saturday morning, bright spots of colour amidst the greenery that we passed by.
And while my house remains discouragingly in the middle of renovation for who knows how long sigh), and I remain living between homes, I am happily, excitedly and busily planning, with the expert help of a local gardener, the flowers to be planted in my new, reconstituted backyard. Gone are the concrete, the shed and interlocking brick; arriving soon will be one of those little digger machines that will dig out the gardens on three sides of my yard. A tree will be planted in a corner near the garage, a vine will grow up and over the trellis installed on my deck and patio stone will be laid down in the centre of the yard, perfect for dining on. Who knows, the garden may even be done before my house is finished!
However much as I love flowers for all their gifts they bring us, they are also a potent reminder of our finite and fragile lives, full of joy, pain and surprise and so I leave you with Shelley's touching poem below.
Percy Shelley, ‘The Flower That Smiles To-Day’.
The flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow dies;
All that we wish to stay
Tempts and then flies.
What is this world’s delight?
Lightning that mocks the night,
Brief even as bright.
